An OFDM MIMO system provides one of the most prominent technologies for high speed wireless communication systems. OFDM MIMO has been adopted for the physical layer of the IEEE 802.11n wireless local area network (WLAN) standard that may support up to 675 Mbps to low mobile users. On the high mobility side, Rev C of CDMA2000 1x evolution-data optimized (1xEV-DO) will be standardized using the OFDM MIMO physical layer to provide up to 73.5 Mbps to high mobility users in a cellular environment.
One of the most fundamental tasks to be performed by the OFDM MIMO receiver is separation of spatial streams. The separation of spatial streams is usually performed with the help of training sequences that are embedded in the transmitted data streams and are known to a receiver. However, the use of training sequences reduces the overall throughput, and usually requires additional processing at both physical and data link layers of the receiver.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for performing blind signal separation in an OFDM MIMO system.